Suicide attack kills 5 in Israel
Tel Aviv, February 26
A suicide bomber carrying 30 kg of explosives blew himself up in a crowd of Israelis waiting outside a nightclub near Tel Aviv's beachfront promenade just before midnight, killing at least four other persons, wounding many and shattering an unofficial truce.

Hezbollah behind attack
Israel
does not rule out the involvement of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah in a suicide attack by a Palestinian bomber, a government spokesman said.

Washington, February 26
Ms Benazir Bhutto is visiting United States next week amid reports of new political arrangements in Pakistan. She will leave Dubai on May 28.
PPP sources told The Dawn that Ms Bhutto would meet senior US
officials in Washington and expressed the hope that meetings
would help restore democracy in Pakistan.

Canada opts out of America’s missile defence system
Toronto, February 26
Canada has decided not to participate in a U.S. missile defence system,
the government announced on Thursday, dealing a symbolic setback to the
experimental anti-missile project and a blunt rebuff to President Bush, who had
personally lobbied for Canada to join.

WB suspends aid to Nepal
Kathmandu, February 26
The World Bank (WB) has announced suspension of $70 million aid to Nepal for the current fiscal year under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Credit, Phase-II, citing extremely slow implementation of agreed reform measures. The Bank's Country Director, Mr Ken Ohashi, informed Nepalese Finance Minister Madhukar Shumsher about the decision, according to an official at the WB Country Office here.

Maoists withdraw blockade
Kathmandu, February 26
Nepal’s Maoists today withdrew the nationwide economic blockade which had crippled movement of essential services in the Himalayan Kingdom 14 days after it called for the stir to protest the seizure of power by King Gyanendra and imposition of emergency.

Life on Mars, a probability: experts
Noordwijk (Holland), February 26
Scientists said they had discovered active volcanoes and frozen seas on Mars, and called for a follow-up mission to find out if there was life on the red planet.

Amnesty founder dead
London, February 26
Mr Peter Benenson, founder of Amnesty International, died last night at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. He was 83. He set up Amnesty International in 1961, which went on to become the world’s largest independent human rights organisation.
Current campaigns include a warning of a human rights disaster looming in Nepal and a call for an end to child executions in Iran.
— AP

Tel Aviv, February 26
A suicide bomber carrying 30 kg of explosives blew himself up in a crowd of Israelis waiting outside a nightclub near Tel Aviv's beachfront promenade just before midnight, killing at least four other persons, wounding many and shattering an unofficial truce.

The area was crowded with young Israelis. About 20 to 30 persons were waiting to get into the "Stage" club on Herbert Samuel street, close to the promenade.

"I was near the club. There were about 20 persons outside. Suddenly, there was an enormous explosion," said a witness, identified only as Tsahi.

Tel Aviv police chief David Tzur said security guards outside the club spotted the bomber and didn't allow him in. "The impact, if he would have gone inside, would have been tragic," he said.

He said four persons were killed and several wounded.

Israeli media said more than 50 persons were wounded, many of them seriously.

There were conflicting reports of who was behind the attack. Initial reports said Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. But the group, as well as other militant groups Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, all issued denials of involvement.

Palestinian security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been trying to disrupt the ceasefire, orchestrated the blast. They said they had tracked recent communications between Hezbollah militant Kais Obeid and an unnamed Palestinian, whom they believed was the attacker.

However, a Hezbollah official in Beirut denied involvement. "As far as we are concerned, there is no need to respond to such lies that we have become used to it," the official said.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops imposed a curfew early today on a West Bank village, the apparent home of the suicide bomber (whose identity was not confirmed), Palestinian security officials said.
— AFP, AP

Washington, February 26
Ms Benazir Bhutto is visiting United States next week amid reports of new political arrangements in Pakistan. She will leave Dubai on May 28.

PPP sources told The Dawn that Ms Bhutto would meet senior US officials in Washington and expressed the hope that meetings would help restore democracy in Pakistan.

When her aides contacted the State Department for arranging her meetings with US officials they were told that Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca or other senior officials would be happy to meet Ms Bhutto, her party source said.

On Thursday, President Musharraf told reporters that his government was negotiating with Ms Benazir a certain arrangement on the future political setup of the country. "We need to discourage extremist elements by working with moderate political parties, including the PPP, especially to have some agreement beyond 2007," he said.

Earlier this month, State Department's spokesman Richard Boucher also urged President Gen Musharraf to quit the army but said for Washington democracy in Pakistan was 'more than the (dispute over Musharraf's) uniform' and that the United States wants the next elections, scheduled in 2007, to be held in accordance with 'international standards' and with 'full participation' of all political parties.

In Washington, PPP and PML-N are both considered moderates and diplomatic observers say that for some time Washington has been urging President Musharraf to allow the two parties to play their role in the Pakistani politics, particularly to counter religious parties who have increased their influence since the October 2001 US action in Afghanistan.

The US administration is particularly alarmed at, what it sees as, an unexpected increase in MMA's influence in the NWFP and Balochistan because provinces border Afghanistan where Washington still had more than 18,000 troops.

Toronto, February 26
Canada has decided not to participate in a U.S. missile defence system, the government announced
on Thursday, dealing a symbolic setback to the experimental anti-missile project and a blunt rebuff to President Bush, who had personally lobbied for Canada to join.

The decision by Prime Minister Paul Martin, who had earlier said he favoured signing on to the system, was an acknowledgement of the deep unpopularity among Canadians of President Bush and his administration's project to try to shoot down missiles headed towards the United States.

“We will continue to work in partnership with our southern neighbors on the common defence of North America,” Martin said.

“However, ballistic missile defence is not where we will concentrate our efforts.” His decision has more political than practical impact, since Canada agreed last August to allow its operators at the North American Aerospace Command centre in Colorado to share information on incoming missiles, a key concession that had been sought by the United States.

Canada's new ambassador to Washington, Mr Frank McKenna, embarrassed the government on Tuesday by acknowledging that the earlier decision meant ``we're part of it now.''

During a raucous Parliamentary session in Ottawa on Thursday, legislators complained that the government was “halfway in and halfway out'' of the U.S.
programme.

Kathmandu, February 26
The World Bank (WB) has announced suspension of $70 million aid to Nepal for the current fiscal year under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Credit, Phase-II, citing extremely slow implementation of agreed reform measures. The Bank's Country Director, Mr Ken Ohashi, informed Nepalese Finance Minister Madhukar Shumsher about the decision, according to an official at the WB Country Office here.

The extremely slow implementation of agreed reform measures compelled the Bank to take such a decision, the official said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also indicated that it will follow the WB's line. The IMF has also postponed its high-level delegation to review the progress of the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility, the official said.

The decision by the Bank will have a strong impact on the foreign aid dependent Nepal's budget.
— PTI

Kathmandu, February 26
Nepal’s Maoists today withdrew the nationwide economic blockade which had crippled movement of essential services in the Himalayan Kingdom 14 days after it called for the stir to protest the seizure of power by King Gyanendra and imposition of emergency.

“To show our greater responsibility towards the general public, we have decided to call off the ongoing nationwide indefinite transport blockade as of Saturday,” the statement by rebel leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda said.
— PTI

Noordwijk (Holland), February 26
Scientists said they had discovered active volcanoes and frozen seas on Mars, and called for a follow-up mission to find out if there was life on the red planet.

The recommendations came at the end of a weeklong conference in the Netherlands to analyse results from the European Space Agency's Mars probe.

A poll conducted among 250 conference participants showed that 75 per cent now believed life in the form of bacteria once existed on Mars and 25 per cent thought it might still be there.

Scientists long have theorised that there once was water on Mars, the planet most like the Earth in our solar system.
— AP

BRIEFLY

Nine UN peacekeepers killed in Congo
Kinshasa: Militiamen killed nine United Nations Bangladeshi peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday in one of the worst attacks against the UN troops in Africa. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the murders and called on Congo’s transitional government to find the perpetrators and hold them accountable, his spokesman said.
— Reuters

French Finance Minister quits
Paris: France’s President and the Prime Minister quickly accepted the resignation of Finance Minister Herve Gaymard on Friday whose use of public funds to rent a luxury apartment and apparent lies threatened to damage the government. Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin accepted it, as did President Jacques Chirac, their offices said about two hours later. There was no immediate announcement of a replacement for Gaymard.
— AP

US State Dept’s new Counsellor
Washington: Philip Zelikow, the former Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission, has been appointed as the Counsellor of the US State Department. Zelikow will occupy the seat lying vacant since 2001. He will serve as a senior policy advisor on a wide range of issues and will undertake special assignments as directed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
— PTI